My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Spring Training: The Phils overcome a 4-0 deficit to defeat the Tigers, 7-5.

The Phils come back from a 4-0 deficit to end up defeating the Tigers, 7-5.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first as, with one man out, Eric Patterson hits a solo home run, his first home run of the spring. The Tigers then made it a 3-0 lead in the third as, with one man on, and with one man out, Patterson hits a two-run home run, his second home run of the spring and of the ballgame, knocking in Omir Santos, who had earlier singled. The Tigers added to their lead in the fourth as, with two men out, Don Kelly hits a solo home run, his first home run of the spring, giving the Tigers a 4-0 lead. The Phils started to come back in the sixth as, with two men on, and with one man out, Carlos Ruiz hits a three-run home run, his first home run of the spring, knocking in Lou Montanez, who had earlier singled, then stopped at second base on Laynce Nix’s single, and Cesar Hernandez, who was pinch running for Nix, who had just singled, cutting the Tigers’ lead down to 4-3. The Phils then tied the score at four-all in the seventh as, with two men on, and with one man out, John Mayberry, Jr. hits an RBI double, scoring Michael Martinez, who had earlier singled, then stopped at second base on Juan Pierre’s single, while sending Pierre, who had just singled, on to third base. The Phils then took the lead as Montanez hits an RBI single, scoring Pierre, giving the Phils a 5-4 lead, while sending Mayberry up to third base. The Phils then made it a 6-4 lead as Hernandez hits a sacrifice fly, scoring Mayberry. Two batters later, with two men on, and with two men out, Kevin Frandsen hits an RBI single, knocking in Montanez, who had reached second base on a David Pauley’s wild pitch, beating the throw to the plate, making it a 7-4 Phils’ lead, while sending Sebastian Valle, who had just walked, on to third base, before moving up to second base on the throw home. The Tigers would get a run back in the ninth as, with a man on second, and with nobody out, Patterson hits an RBI single, knocking in Quintin Berry, who had just doubled, cutting the Phils’ lead to 7-5. But, that would be the final score as Brian Sanches ended the game by getting Argenis Diaz to field out to center for the final out.

Roy Halladay received a no-decision as he went three innings, giving up three runs on four hits, while striking out four. Joel Pineiro pitched two innings, giving up a run on two hits, striking out a batter. Jeremy Horst (1-0, 0.00) picked up the win as he pitched an inning and two-thirds of shutout ball, giving up two hits, while striking out a batter. David Herndon picked up his first hold of the spring as he pitched an inning and a third of scoreless ball, giving up two hits and a walk. Brian Sanches recorded his first save of the spring as he pitched an inning, giving up a run on two hits, while striking out a batter. Max Scherzer also received a no-decision as he pitched three and one-third innings, giving up a hit and two walks, while striking out two batters. Adam Wilk recorded his second hold of the spring as he went two and a third innings, giving up three runs on four hits. Tyler Stohr recorded his first hold of the spring as he pitched a third of an inning, getting out the only man that he would face. David Pauley (1-1, 16.88) blew his first save attempt of the spring before taking the lost, as he pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks. Collin Balester pitched an inning and a third, giving up a hit. Daniel Schlereth pitched a scoreless inning, striking out a batter.

The Phils had eleven hits in the ballgame, with Lou Montanez leading the team with two hits (Singles, RBI). Juan Pierre (Single), Scott Podsednik (Single), John Mayberry, Jr. (Double, RBI), Hunter Pence (Single), Laynce Nix (Single), Carlos Ruiz (Home Run, 3 RBI), Kevin Frandsen (Single, RBI), Freddy Galvis (Single) and Michael Martinez (Single) had the other nine Phils’ hit. Cesar Hernandez knocked in the other Phil RBI with a sacrifice fly. Phils also had four walks and a stolen base (Podsednik) in the game.

The Phils (4-3) will continue with their spring training schedule tomorrow with an afternoon game at Bright House Field in Clearwater with the Orioles (3-2). The game will start at 1:05 pm EDT.

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